Home

share This

Atiku mocks Buhari over ‘system not allow him to fight corruption’

Atiku
Abubakar, former Vice President of Nigeria, has again lambasted President
Muhammadu Buhari. The Waziri of Adamawa on Wednesday hailed the All
Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate for admitting his failure in
the fight against corruption.

The People’s
Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, in a statement he personally
signed and made available to DAILY POST, said his attention was drawn to
Buhari’s comment in which he blamed his inability to fight corruption on the
Nigerian system.

According to
the President, his administration is slow in fighting corruption because the
system is slow.

Reacting,
Atiku wrote: “My immediate response to this is to commend President Buhari for
admitting that he has failed in fighting corruption. The President has just
corroborated Transparency International, whose latest Corruption Perception
Index shows that Nigeria is more corrupt today than it was under the previous
administration, having moved 12 places backwards in the CPI, from 136 in 2014
to 148 this year.

“But my
point of departure from the President is in blaming his failure on the system.
I disagree. The system has challenges, yes, but where there is political will,
the system can make progress.

“I was Vice
President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 and we used that same system to speedily
convict no less a personality than an Inspector General of Police, and several
others including cabinet ministers and other high officials.

“Mr.
President, the problem with your anti-corruption war is not the system. You are
the problem!

“The system
allows you to arrest, try and convict your former Secretary to the Government
of the Federation, who was fingered in a major corruption case, but you chose
to let him go Scot free and you demonstrated your tolerance for his corruption
by giving him a prominent role in your re-election campaign and recently
welcoming him to the Presidential Villa with open arms.

“The system
allowed you to arrest, try and convict Abdulrasheed Maina, the biggest ever
alleged thief in our civil service history, who is suspected of looting the
pensions of millions of aged Nigerians. Yet you chose not to go that route,
preferring instead to recall him, reinstate and double promote him while giving
him armed guards to move about.

“The system
allows you to probe the $25 billion NNPC contracts awarded without due process,
but you chose to bury the matter under the carpet, hoping the Nigerian people
will forget about that grand scale alleged looting exposed by a leaked memo
from a member of your cabinet.

“Finally,
nothing in the system stops you from telling Nigerians who owns the billions
found in an Ikoyi apartment.

“Based on
the above statement of facts, I will not allow you to to make Nigeria the
scapegoat for your failure. Your failure is personal, and not national.

“If you
could go abroad to insult Nigerian youths as lazy, why did you go to Paris to
praise a governor who was caught red-handed receiving bribes on camera?

“The system
did not stop the EFCC from charging the opposition Governor of Akwa-Ibom, Mr.
Udom Emmanuel, as a co-accused in the case involving the NBA Chairman, Mr Paul
Usoro (SAN). Contrast this with the treatment meted out to Governor Umar
Ganduje of the ruling All Progressive Congress.

“Besides,
your excuse is deceptive, because you have staunchly resisted restructuring. If
you really believed that the system is the problem, you would have embraced
restructuring.

“Unfortunate
as your admitted failure in the war on corruption is, it is your economic
policy that is the greater failure. Your lack of ideas and your politicisation
of the corruption war has made your administration fight legitimate businesses
and the opposition.

“I might add that it is actions such as this
that have led to an unprecedented capital flight which has caused joblessness
and made Nigeria the world headquarters for extreme poverty under yo